Snake Dog IPA | Flying Dog Brewery

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Reviews by Kitt:

Pours a deep cider color with a weak ivory-colored head that dissipates rapidly. Some lace.

Aroma is pleasant - malt with a butterscotch background.

Taste too recalls a combination of butterscotch, malt, and hops. Hops are vivid at first but not particularly bitter....fading rapidly. Carbonation is a bit stark. There is a lingering taste I can't quite place - kinda like plastic. For an IPA, this beer is a bit simple. The bare ingredients of malt and hops are pleasant on the palatte but they aren't complemented by any eclectic background enhancement. I'm simply not impressed with the taste of this IPA.

Mouthfeel is good - on the thin side but not too watered down. About right for the taste.

Drinkability is adequate but this is not a brand I'd want to throw down several of at a single sitting.

The best thing this beer has going for it is the 7.1% alcohol volume. With all the terrific American IPAs out there I doubt I'll be anxious for another Snake Dog anytime soon. I'm simply not impressed.

More User Reviews:

At first, this looks like it's going to be good. Healthy looking patchy white creamy head atop a solid amber coloured beer. Aroma was light, with faint grain and a touch of floral citrus hop smell. Get to the taste, and I'm sort of lost. The body is almost too weak, thin. A rawness hints to its level of hopping. There's little malt sweetness (dextrin, faint buttery maple), but there's a dominant hodgepodge of hop flavours that can't decide what it is; very herbal, hoppy and slightly bitter with a watery lemon flavour. No balance to this brew at all. The hops really try, but its bark is worse than its bite. Finish is leafy in feel with an odd floral/herbal leftover.

Great label, not so great beer. I expected something a bit more agressive, proving that looks are deceiving.

Taste: A back and forth fight between a bicuity(mild husk) malt flavour and an assertive hop bitterness that has some coasre leafy flavours. A touch of malt sweetness is comes through after the fight with some fruit and esters, then this brew finishes with faint notes of grain and hop flavour. Alcohol warms the belly a little also.

Notes: The flavour is like a wave ... quick to come crashing in then slowly fading back out. Nice head retention. This is a great American IPA ... good doses of bicuity malt and hops with an sufficing alcoholic punch.

T: This is a nice, easy to drink beer considering it's higher alcohol content. The hops are very present, along with a citrus, lemony element. The alcohol is there, but not very strong, and it all finishes with a bitter bite.

F: It's a lighter, we'll carbonated IPA, as it should be.

O: A good, easy to drink IPA with a nice hoppy touch and a surprising alcohol content.

So, I did a "face off" between Snake Dog and the easily available (around here) Summit India. Summit's IPA represents the "post- modern blast of hops" India made in the US that I'm used to and like. As someone used to a rush of hop bitter/citrus, the Snake Dog was not there -- even almost heavy on the tongue and "floral" at the end (more like a mild Special Bitter, but not). As an IPA, Snake Dog is mid-pack and only OK to me...

Hops get down to business right away, with a somewhat raw, unrefined character that asserts itself up front, rather than at the finish. Not much in the way of floral or citrus in the hops, just a 'bite this hop cone" bittering that is actually a nice change of pace from some other American style IPAs and perhaps more in line with the traditional English version. Very drinkable.

T: not quite as bitter in the middle as expected - concentrated on the sides of the palate... herbal spice in the aftertaste... bitterness does build with a touch of alcohol lingering... nice balance - hops are quite fruity but matches well against the clean malt backbone

F: not much of a fizzy bite... hop oils in the foam seem to enhance the marshmallowy cushioning effect in the flow... medium-bodied, but light in weight... mildly silky smooth

A: [4.50] Gave it an aggressive pour that yielded a 2 1/2 finger head. The head is nice tight dense bubbles. The brew is a slightly hazy amber color. The head starts to break down in chunks leaving nice frilly lacing. The bottle lists the ABV (7.1%) and the best by date code translates to today! Have to drink fast!

S: [4.00] I get slight pineapple and citrus on the nose. It is not pungent - just hints of nice fragrances.

T: [3.50] The beer has a slight citrus front then moves to a bitter back end. There is a slight "buttery" flavor that is nice. The bitter is balanced out with some sweetness from the malts.

M: [3.50] Decent mouthfeel - maybe a slightly elevated carbonation level. There is a bit of a dry finish with the hops.

O: [3.75] I was hoping that the taste would follow the nose and present with stronger citrus/pineapple (these are flavors that I really like in an IPA). As the beer warmed these became more prevelant. Good overall flavor. I'd like to try one fresh.

Definate grain aromas with a hint of fresh hops. A light and flufy white, practically weightless, head. Nice looking slightly hazey amber. Mellow malt character with an odd hoppy character. The flavors are in conflict. Confusing signals of citrus, flowers and a mouth puckering hops sensation is in the mix as well. Not a bad beer, however, nothing to rave about. Was expecting something more from the Flying Dog Brewery, instead we are given a second rate rendering of what could have been. Think I.P.A. Light, would be a more fitting name.

Clear pale body with a frothy white head and great lace.. A/T is sharp bitterness, pine, floral hops.. Slight sweet pale cracker malt.. Simple straight forward ipa.. Every ipa doesn't need flowers and spices and such to make them good.. This one is a great choice.

Pours a deep golden with a two finger head that settles nicely,I pick up some grapfruit in the aroma from the large dose of hops with some nuttiness that lingers as well.Taste is pretty blazee,not much going on here some soapiness and some zesty hop in the aftertaste thats it Iam still tryin to get get more from this beer but nuttin.Man Flying Dog really needs to check themselves there beers are pretty lackluster.

Appearance  Nice, light copper coloring in the body with a decent head that went down slowly and laced the heck out of my glass.

Smell  The citrus hop aroma opened up a little as the beer sat. Theres also a slight yeasty malt scent, but you have to dig for it.

Taste  The hops, orange rind in flavor with a measure of bitterness, came out well at the taste. There seems to be a slight malt balance in there as well, but this is all about the hops. The finish is a thick, orange syrup.

Mouthfeel  The carbonation is light, and the beer itself is thick and chewy, especially for an IPA. The classic dryness of the style is present as well.

Drinkability It went down very smooth, felt good from beginning to end, and left me wanting another.

Comments - I thought this was well done. Clearly, I favored this more than most of the other BAs, but to each his own. However, when reviewing this beer, I would suggest letting it open up a little in a wide-mouthed glass. This one is packed in there pretty tight.

Update  I was the high ball review over a year ago so thought I should revisit this fella with a 2004 vintage. I massaged the ratings a bit but overall I still stand by my recommendation. This is a terrific and fresh (new) IPA.

Pours golden-amber in color with a fairly thin, white head that wisps away into nothing pretty quickly. Very modest lacing left along the glass, not much to speak of. Handfuls of hops on the nose - mostly the floral type; roses, leafy, slight citrus notes. I'm also getting heavy white pepper in the aroma. First sip leads to pungent hop oils and deep resin, very oily tasting with more of that leafy-peppery combination from the nose. Slightly woody in character with charred wood notes here and there. Bitterness engulfs the palate pretty well; the beer is yeasty and hearty with some dark earth tones in the very, very back, playing a role in trying to balance out the hops. Aftertaste leaves the mouth slightly bitter and a bit hot and spicy - that white pepper lingers longer than anything. Medium-thick body, high carbonation.

This IPA wasn't bad, but it's not something I'd be likely to revisit. Very pepper-like in both aroma and taste, pungent hops aren't balanced as well as one would hope. Good try, but there is so much better out there.